Airblade takes place in the near future, where a man named Oscar has developed a perpetual energy source that will revolutionize the world. However, the GCP Corporation discovers it and fears it will hurt their business, heavily invested in oil companies. Desperate, they kidnap Oscar, but before he is captured, he gives his friend Ethan a prototype hoverboard called the Airblade .
The player takes control of Ethan, who must complete objective-based missions to rescue Oscar, reveal the discovery to the world, and stop the evil corporation. Each mission has the player complete objectives within a time limit, destroying cameras or taking out guards using the Airblade to navigate through areas, discover helpful items, and find bonus rooms and missions.
As the player progresses through the game, additional modes are unlocked, including a "Score Attack" mode and a "Freestyle" mode that rewards players for completing tricks and stunts using the Airblade . There are also multiplayer modes such as "Ribbon Tag" and "Elimination", where eight players take turns scoring points on time-allowed tracks, with each round eliminating the player with the lowest points until only one is left.
The game was released for the PlayStation 2 on 2002 .